"Pulling out the win": Survivor fans are impressed by Owen's performance in the immunity task

Tonight on Survivor (season 43, episode 8), players were asked to balance a ball on a long pole to win immunity. Host Jeff had offered rice to the contestants if five of them decided to sit the task out, losing a chance to win the community. James Jones sternly looked at Owen, implying that he wanted him to sit out the task.

Owen was a high-risk target for elimination, but he saved himself by balancing the ball perfectly. He and Cody were able to add six poles under the balancing stick before Cody's ball fell, and Owen won the challenge.

After winning the challenge, Owen shared how he watched the show as a 9-year-old, and now he was the one acing it. He also shared the names of some of the earlier contestants of the show that he looked up to, including Colby Donaldson, Terry Deitz, and Kelly Anne Wiglesworth.

Survivor fans praised Owen for his fantastic performance on Twitter.

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Survivor fans cheer for Owen as he wins his first immunity

The big seven alliance (Cody, Ryan, Sami, Karla, James, Jesse, and Cassidy) was considering eliminating Owen from the show, but he secured his place by winning the immunity challenge. Survivor fans praised Owen for his fantastic performance. Some felt that Owen won the challenge because he was angered by James' patronizing look before the task began.

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Recap of Survivor season 43, episode 8

This week on Survivor, the merged tribes faced the aftermath of Dwight's elimination. Jeanine Zheng was shocked to see Dwight go as he had her idol in his pocket and was nervous about elimination because she had no numbers or alliances to save herself.

Jesse joked about Jeanine Zheng flushing away her advantage, but no one knew Dwight had given him the idol before going home. He wanted to keep it to himself in a bid to avoid elimination. Jesse also had Cody's idol in his pocket, giving him a double advantage.

Team Gaia was seen hand-painting together. Owen shared his story of being adopted at four months old by "white parents" and not feeling accepted by others when he just wanted to fit in. He then compared it to his time on Survivor, as he had been blindsided and just wanted to be with the majority.

The episode description reads:

"It is day 16 and castaways are getting to know their new tribe post-merge; hunger pangs are starting to take a toll and castaways must decide who will strike a deal with Jeff Probst to earn rice for their tribe."

Gabler felt that Ryan was the biggest provider of the challenges. Ryan also shared how he had cerebral palsy as a child. He wanted to save himself from elimination, so he spoke to others to confirm their voting and went out fishing again, this time catching 21 fish despite the team having rice from the immunity task.

While he was out, the other four members tried to convince the majority to vote Ryan out, not Jeanine. Jeanine was eventually eliminated after being blindsided by members of her own alliance.

Survivor season 43 airs every Wednesday at 8 pm ET.